Would you retire Bowen's jersey ? And some random thoughts

[lefty]

- Bruce Bowen : yeah, I think his jersey should be retired; no question.
Bruce is a top notch defensive player, he has been a key member of 3 (and maybe 4, 5) championship teams; during the 2007 playoffs, he did an amazing job on some of the best offensive players in the NBA : AI and Melo, Steve Nash, Deron and Lebron.

- Artis Gilmore : what do you think ? I know he wants his jersey to be retired; I say yes.

- Beno Udrih : well, for this one, I have a few ideas:
A. Burn his jersey at the AT&T center, center court
B. Give an autographed jersey of Beno to Mark Cuban; after all, they have 3 things in common : 1. they are useless ; 2.they are dumb; 3.they like to throw their money at anything they see
C. Give an autographed jersey to Dirk. Disappearing acts.

[SRJ]

Bowen, definitely. He is perhaps the greatest example of the "self-made player" going in the NBA today.

Gilmore's jersey should be retired somewhere, either in Chicago or San Antonio, or perhaps even both. And without question he should be in the HOF.

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Yes to both.

[ShoogarBear]

Bowen is a no-brainer.

Kenon and Mitchell's numbers should be retired before Gilmore's.

[baseline bum]

Bruce yes, Artis no.

[AOMrep]

Bowen is just as an important part of our Championships as any of the big three are. I say retire his jersey fo' sho'.

[Spurminator]

Absolutely for Bowen.

For Gilmore, I don't care. Probably not.

[ChumpDumper]

Yes to all three. AJ has opened the door and it can't be closed.

[Barbarian]

Yes to all three. AJ has opened the door and it can't be closed.

Thats what I was thinking. If you had asked me about Bowen getting his jersey retired before the AJ announcement I would probably have said no. But if AJ is in the rafters then Bruce definitely deserves to be there too.

[ChumpDumper]

I would have retired Bruce's jersey regardless, but now anything goes.

[Thompson]

Not only has Bowen been a crucial part of many Spurs Championships, he has done it on defense; he has sacrificed the selfish attitude seen in so many other players on other teams (demanding shots/ offense) in favor of the good of the team. He has also suffered the scorn of others in the NBA and the sportswriting world (those who hate to see their players shut down); they always allude to some vague notion that "Bowen is dirty" without any real proof. The hords of sheep-like sportswriters want to believe Bowen is dirty, and they'll look only for evidence that confirms their beliefs (the funny thing is they've found very little, so the contingency plan is to continue to foster the vague notion Bowen is dirty somehow, even if we never catch him).

The Spurs not retiring Bowen's jersey would be a sin. For this man to come from the background he has, pull himself up to be a respectable and decent citizen and man, to be a self-sacrificing and team-first kind of player (and then to be baselessly disrespected by the hack sportswriters who are always clamoring for that sort of player) and to have played so crucial a part to this organization's recent championships, such an omission would be another travesty.

I'm sure the Spurs will retire his jersey. If they didn't, however, I would climb up into the rafters myself and put it there. And I'm acrophobic.

[Spurs Brazil]

Bruce is a lock

[SequSpur]

Stupid question.

[YODA]

Gee, I think ill go anti Bowwn on this. And this is given i love the guy. How many real good players have not have their jerseys retired? there are alot of them. Yes Bowen was part of the teams that won rings, but so were alot of other guys who put their 2 cents in too, maybe even better stats during those playoff runs. come on now, if were talking people that helped get rings, then your adding people like mario ellie, Stephen jackson, Jaren jackson, Malic rose. all were key members, but none deserve to have their jerseys retired. Yes , he is a class act and was part of 3 rings and is a good story, but im just not sure its enough for retiring his jersey. Mike Mitchell was hella good player with great stats and he isnt there. Alvin Robinson i believe was the heard of the team when we were losing year after year. he was all purpose player.
we just cant go out and retire every starting 5 from every championship.
there had to be more criteia thne just being on a winnig team. I hope he does, but does he really deserve it?

yoda

[ChumpDumper]

Being a critical part of three championship teams has sealed it for Bowen.

[ShoogarBear]

Bowen was more than just a part of those three championships. You can easily argue that he was either the MVP or, at worst, the third-most important Spur in both the 2005 and 2007 Finals. There is no stat that will tell you that truth.

Does Bowen benefit because he was part of three championship teams? Absolutely. If he played for the Spurs in the 80s or early 90s would we be having this discussion. No.

But then, you could say the same thing about Manu.

[T Park]

Bowen yes Gilmore no.

Bowen was a lock before Avery Johnson.

Without Bowen's overall contributions in 03, 05 and 07, the Spurs don't even sniff the western finals in any of the years.

[Kori Ellis]

Gee, I think ill go anti Bowwn on this. And this is given i love the guy. How many real good players have not have their jerseys retired? there are alot of them. Yes Bowen was part of the teams that won rings, but so were alot of other guys who put their 2 cents in too, maybe even better stats during those playoff runs. come on now, if were talking people that helped get rings, then your adding people like mario ellie, Stephen jackson, Jaren jackson, Malic rose. all were key members, but none deserve to have their jerseys retired. Yes , he is a class act and was part of 3 rings and is a good story, but im just not sure its enough for retiring his jersey. Mike Mitchell was hella good player with great stats and he isnt there. Alvin Robinson i believe was the heard of the team when we were losing year after year. he was all purpose player.
we just cant go out and retire every starting 5 from every championship.
there had to be more criteia thne just being on a winnig team. I hope he does, but does he really deserve it?

yoda

:td

I don't know even know if the Spurs would have won their last three titles without Bowen.

And I agree with others that Bowen was a lock even if they hadn't lowered the standard to AJ level.

[Barbarian]

I get the whole idea that he was a vital player on championship teams but I tend to think that retired jerseys are more deserving from HOF type players. I mean all time greats.

[Tek_XX]

It would be hard to deny a lot of people now that AJ gets to hang up there.

[FromWayDowntown]

Bruce definitely suffers from not being able to bring quantifiables to the table. Three generations from now, Spurs fans will be telepathically communicating with each other and wondering what the hell the Spurs were thinking when they decided to retire Bruce Bowen's number. But I think there's a grain of truth to the thinking that Bruce Bowen is one of the transcendant defenders this game has ever seen. Unfortunately, he's going to end up looking less that way because he hasn't won (and might not ever win) any DPOY awards and there are no numbers to meaningfully account for Bowen's contributions. I agree with the thought that the Spurs might not have any titles after 1999 without Bruce Bowen.

[Kori Ellis]

I get the whole idea that he was a vital player on championship teams but I tend to think that retired jerseys are more deserving from HOF type players. I mean all time greats.

That's not the criteria for most teams. And certainly not for the Spurs, who have Moore, Elliott, Avery, etc.

[diego]

bowen is an all-time great for the spurs. who knows when he last missed a game and he might even be the more consistent than any one in the big 3. he has all the complementary skills the big 3 require, and though better rebounding would be nice, bowen makes up for that by giving us our identity on D- he sets the tone and sets timmy up for the blocks. he literally does all the dirty work so everyone else can shine, to the tune of 3 rings, maybe more. the more i write, the more i wonder if i'd take bowen over "great SF defender" marion. looking at their contracts, its a no-brainer.

bowen earned it (and it will be great to know he will be up in the rafters with the stars of the league- a big fuck you to the people who discredit anything he does)

[Barbarian]

That's not the criteria for most teams. And certainly not for the Spurs, who have Moore, Elliott, Avery, etc.

Crappy criteria if you ask me. I would rather retired jerseys belong to THE GREATS and not the "He did so much for this city" or "He is a classy guy" type of guy but too late for that. Oh well.
This is inregard to AJ and Elliot. Not Bowen. He is much Much more deserving than them. Dont get me wrong, Bruce is one of my all time favorites. If there is one guy that you let in that is not HOF material it is definitely Bowen.
Of course this is in EVILROY rafter land. In reality, because of AJ, every player from the last decade will be up there.

[whottt]

Anyone that thinks Bown shouldn't have his jersey retired....

Forget about the fact that he's about to be the Franchises's All Time Leader in several 3 point categories...


Bowen being key to the 2005 and 2007 titles?


He was probably more important to the 2003 title...because Kobe was a real bitch prior to signing Bowen...

He was the finals MVP of the 07 championship....IMO.


But forget about that too....


Forget about the fact that he has been underpaid his entire Spurs career and multiple times renogotiated contracts to the benefit of the team...




The simple fact of the matter is, Bruce Bowen is one of the 3 best perimeter defenders in NBA history...

And his ALL NBA D teams for a perimeter defender, if he doesn't have the record for consecutive teams made...he's very close to attaining it...not the Spurs record, the NBA record. And he's done that after turning 30. Amazing...



Bruce Bowen is a HOF caliber defender...


It's not even a question his jersey should be retired..., it's a question of is he the most deserving of that honor after Gervin, Robinson and Duncan...





Artis is a no-brainer HOF'er...but I have a hard time with his jersey being retired, because he wasn't here very long...then again, AJ's is retired...and Artis was like 100 times the player AJ was.

[timmy21_4rings]

Bowen - Yes Sir

[Texas_Ranger]

Yes for Bruce.

[timvp]

It's not even a question his jersey should be retired..., it's a question of is he the most deserving of that honor after Gervin, Robinson and Duncan...Funny ... that's the same question I asked myself.

When Bowen's jersey is retired, I think they'll be a real case for him going down as the fourth best Spur in the franchise's history. He's no doubt the most underappreciated play in Spurs history.

This past season, a good amount of my regular season posts were in regards to beating back the Bowen haters. A good portion of Spurs fans thought he had lost a step or that his offense had regressed to the point that it hurt the Spurs. And when Bowen retires, they'll be those who will look at the stats and wonder why his jersey is being retired.

The truth is Bowen might have more to do with the Spurs winning their last three championships than any player outside of Tim Duncan. Ginobili and Parker and Parker have to be in contention, but the case can be made for Bowen. Bowen has remained consistent throughout the years while Ginobili and Parker were finding their way. Ginobili was decent in 2003, was awesome in 2005 and good in 2007. Parker was pretty good in 2003, good in 2005 and very good in 2007. Bowen, on the other hand, was consistently good through each of the three championships.

Of non-center, Bowen has to go down as one of the best defenders of all-time. You have Bowen, Michael Cooper, Satch Sanders, Dave DeBusschere, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and who else? That's pretty elite company.

What's underrated about Bowen, however, is his clutchness. In every single season as a Spur, he's shot for a better three-point percentage in the playoffs than he did in the regular season. Every single year. To me that's a pretty amazing stat. This year, his three-pointer against the Suns in Game 6 was the clutchest shot of the entire playoffs.

Bowen is the type of player that won't be missed until his gone. Then when that feeling wears off, Spurs fans will wonder why the hell #12 is in the rafters. Little will they know . . .

:smokin

[SenorSpur]

As Kori so eloquently stated, the Spurs do not have three titles without Bowen's contribution. He has arguably one of the toughest jobs in the league - night in and night out. Definite Yes to Bowen.

As for Gilmore, I witnessed his play up close during his 4-5 seasons with the Spurs. Those teams could never overcome the 80's Fakers. Even still, I'm very respectful to his contributions here. I vote Yes for him.

[barbacoataco]

Bowen is for sure. After that I would put Kenon in front of Gilmore.

[urunobili]

Bruce will not only have his jersey retired by the Spurs organization... but probably will enter the HOF... BOOK IT... he may have two more rings before retiring from the Spurs...

[Spurminator]

The HOF is for great players. To me, a jersey retirement is about a player whose career helped shape and define the team. It's a reward for the player, and a statement by the team that they want to ensure your legacy with the team lives on for the next generations of fans.

You can't talk about the 00's Spurs without talking about Bruce Bowen, just like you can't talk about the 80's Lakers without talking about Michael Cooper. Bowen has personified "Spurs Basketball" during the most successful era in team history.

[Obstructed_View]

AJ has opened the door and it can't be closed.
Well put. That's always going to be the litmus test.

[shelshor]

Bruce, Kenon & Mitchell deserve to have their jerseys retired before AJ

[ShoogarBear]

and Johnny Moore.

[Spurs Brazil]

Bowen is the type of player that won't be missed until his gone.

In his firt year with the Spurs he missed 17 games because a injury. Spurs record was 8-9

When he went down I thought it'd be a great time for Jax to get minutes and then I realized how important Bruce was

Bruce is great